Some lucky collectors have made off with some wonderful Dickens memorabilia lately, including autographed books and personal letters. My favorite item that recently went up for auction: a copy of The Pickwick Papers inscribed by Dickens to Hans Christian Andersen. Why that one didn't sell, I can't imagine; I'd SO much rather have that than an unsigned Bleak House, even if the latter was the original serialized version.
And then there was the collector who spent $9150 on Dickens's . . . retractable toothpick. Seriously. His toothpick. Look, I love the man, but there are limits. Although if there were any hope of retrieving a bit of DNA from it, and hiring someone with expertise in cloning . . .
I bet the copy of Pickwick didn't sell because Dickens famously disliked Andersen, upon whom Uriah Heep was based. ;)
Now the idea of DNA cloning...you think there'll be another auction for that toothpick any time soon? XD
Posted by: Nibs | December 20, 2009 at 07:23 AM
I knew he didn't like Andersen, but I never heard that about Uriah Heep. Fascinating!
Posted by: Gina | December 20, 2009 at 08:33 AM
Has anybody heard of the book "Mumsey's Recollections" by Charles Dicken's mother??
Posted by: Clare Francis | February 08, 2010 at 12:49 PM
I hadn't, but I've just looked it up. Actually, it appears it was written by his grandson's wife. I'm sure it's interesting, though.
Posted by: Gina | February 08, 2010 at 01:25 PM